Draw out your lot and house to scale on graph paper. Identify any areas that need privacy from neighbors or a road and any areas that would make a great focal point. Do you have room for an outdoor "seating area"? Do you want an area for cutting flowers or growing herbs, etc? Find the an area with at least 4-6 hours of sunlight a day for most to thrive. Is there an area that is shady or too wet? Fix it (french drain? sand added to soil) or work with it by planting plants that like that. You must identify which areas of your yard are which exposure. Buy the Sunset Western Garden Book. It will save you money by not planting what won't work. Utilize the help of your local nurseries on plant selections for your zone. They can be a great source of information. Then the hard/fun part- remove all that does not work and bring in yards and yards of good topsoil. Incorporate it into your existing soil adding some compost as well will make your new plants very happy. Will you have an irrigation system? That can make a big difference in your plant selections. If not, at least consider running a drip system on a timer (burying out of site under mulch, as the UV rays will decompose it). Once you have done all of this, shape your planting beds in nice curves. If you are not mildly artistic it will show immediately, and you may need to hire a pro. If you are, you can do this! A garden hose layed out really helps to shape them. Think "flow". As for plant placement and selection, you want a mixture of plants and trees, - evergreens, decidious, flowering and grasses for year round color and interest all anchored in with your hardscape of large rock possibly a dry "river bed" meandering and perhaps slate pathways leading from front to back along the side of your house. It's easy to do an "okay" job, it's impossible to do a "wow" job if you do not take the time to plan and are not an artist at heart. My favorite plants for you check out that should do fine in your zone: Coral Bark Maple (Sango Kaku), Nandina Domestica "Gulf Stream", Japanese Forest Grass (shade tolerant) (Hakonechloa) or Blue Oat Grass (sunnier), hydrangea "Endless Summer", I could go on and on... Good luck :) Stacy Heintz-Landscape Designer

Keep in mind that there are many different approaches to landscaping. Mine is "naturalistic". I grow natives with little or no pruning and I limit raking to leave garden litter for the birds. Within three years of planting, I had a yard full of birds and butterflies. It is not nice and geometric like many landscapes. Get pictures of landscapes you like and carry them around to ask for help. Don't forget your county extension agent. They usually have numerous booklets for free and all the free advice you want. Here in Tucson, they have demonstration gardens and classes to take. Really, the best advice we received came from neighbors, friends at church, and the nice people at the local nursery who love to talk. Be sure to ask people about the easy plants to grow. The easy ones are the "bones" of my landscaping. I have a few plants that are a challenge to grow, but they are not as long-lived because they are not native. Through experience, I found that popular annuals like alysum (sp?), zinnias, and snapdragons will fill large pots and bloom through our cold winters. My summer bloomers are salvia (for Hummingbirds), blackfoot daisies, and lantana (numerous colors for butterfllies). Maybe some of those will grow in your area. I do hope you get the yard you want! As for me, I am adding Emu bushes because they are "near natives" from Australia, bloom prolifically in the winter, and need little pruning. (I found out about those right here on Houzz.)

When I add something to my 'cottage garden' style yard, it gets one year of babying, and then after that, it's on its own. Saving water is not really stressed around here, The Great Black Swamp of NW Ohio. Plus, I'm the daughter of a drainage contractor, so our problem is usually too much water, not too little. We've done all we know of to take care of that problem. (We have well water and a septic system) Water saving toilets? It's all that is sold down here, and we had nothing but problems with them. So one day while going to a Canadian dog show, I took a side trip and went to a Home Depot in Windsor. The guy told me they sell a lot of toilets there to Ohioans. Whenever I or my husband is in the bathroom, we yell if we have to go too and yell "Don't flush" Not to save water but to save on the salt that has to be used, and carried down the stairs to condition it.

Yes -- one of the reasons I love both of them is that they are excellent security plants. I once had a fabulous 10-foot pyracantha hedge. What that looked like when the berries were in season! I must add that I like plants to take their natural shape as much as possible, so I have never had much of a pruning problem with either. I'm a little nervous of oleander because it is so poisonous. I've heard of people being poisoned by cooking meat on a fire fed with oleander branches. Or maybe they used them as skewers. Not sure. But it is also a stunningly lovely shrub. And if you live in an area where they are common, people know they're poisonous and aren't going to casually pick off a leaf to chew.